March 24, 2009

Anthony Charles Lynton

Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was the speaker at the fourth Ateneo MVP Center Leadership Forum yesterday and I was privileged to be among the 1,200 people invited to the talk. I had a great seat too: not orchestra center because the first few rows were reserved for important people and the rest of it was immediately filled up, but the first row of the left side which turned out to be right in front of Mr. Blair's podium! His topic was "The Leader as Nation Builder in a Time of Globalization." The topic was specially chosen by the Ateneo de Manila University for its 150th anniversary whose theme, The Ateneo Way, comprises excellence, spirituality and nation-building.

I'm not going to say anything about the lecture itself because I've already seen three articles written about it and will just point you to them. The articles of John Nery, a journalist and columnist at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, are "Blair: The battle is about Islam" and "Her Britannic Majesty’s loyal texter." The article of Rick Olivares, an alumnus who writes regularly for the Ateneo de Manila website, is "Tony Blair: An ordinary human being in an extraordinary situation." And the article of Joaquin Alonzo Narciso, a young high school student, is "Servant-Leaders as Nation Builders." After the lecture, Mr. Blair was presented with several gifts which hold great meaning to the university: a replica of the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus carved by Philippine national hero Jose Rizal while he was a student in the Ateneo; a set of books collecting the essays and homilies of Fr. Horacio de la Costa, a historian and the first Filipino superior of the Jesuits in the Philippines; and, probably a first for the university during a formal occasion, an Ateneo de Manila jacket.

Cool! It's always neat to see leaders up close and personal. He always seemed like a pretty regular guy too - not one of those snooty Engligh-types. (No offense to any English here - as I'm sure if you're reading this blog you're not snooty. :) )

Reena: Oh yes, definitely starstruck! I actually missed his first few lines because I was just staring at him!

JM: Hee hee, why do you think I chose that shot out of more than 80? And yes, cameras were allowed, just no flash. I had to turn it on for security though, just to prove it was a real camera and not a shell hiding a bomb!

Mia: I don't blame you and your mom. The man's good looking and he's a great speaker.

About My Manila

Metro Manila is the largest urban center in the Philippines, composed of seventeen cities and municipalities with about twelve million people. Though I've lived here all my life, I have really just been to a few areas of its teeming 638 square kilometers. This is a photo blog of the Manila that I experience everyday and, occasionally, of other places we go to. I hope you like my Manila. Despite its many flaws, I do.

City Daily Photo

About Me

Nothing makes me happier than staying at home, curled up in bed with a good book or movie, or puttering around the house, but I can do so only for a few hours every week because I have a full-time, Monday to Saturday job.

Pure love and a wondrous tale
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For The Philippine Star, 19 November 2012, in Art & Culture.
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2 years ago

Be nice please!

All the photos in this blog were taken either by me or my husband. I can't really stop you from using any of these on your own blog or website, but do please acknowledge the source of the image and let me know by leaving a comment or emailing me at happyinmanila2008 at yahoo dot com, and sending me the url of your site. I'd really appreciate it.

My Camera

Currently, I carry the tiny but wide-angle Canon Ixus 200 IS in my purse wherever I go, but I've also used the equally tiny Canon Ixus 80 IS and the Canon PowerShot A610 with the twist and swivel LCD viewfinder (which I miss terribly because it's perfect for street photography and "stolen shots"). Can you tell that I like small cameras?